


Plus Sign

by AnitaB



Series: Sleeping Verse (Jane/Lisbon) [3]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 16:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnitaB/pseuds/AnitaB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This a sequel to "A Good Night's Sleep" and "So Much for Sleeping".  Jane and Lisbon are about to take another big step in their relationship.  And as usual, it's going to be in front of half the building.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plus Sign

Title: Plus Sign  
Disclaimer: I own nothing from "Mentalist" and make no money. No infringement is intended.  
Author's Notes: This a sequel to "A Good Night's Sleep" and "So Much for Sleeping". Jane and Lisbon are about to take another big step in their relationship. And as usual, it's going to be in front of half the building.

Title: Plus Sign  
Author: AnitaB

She stared down at the thing in her hand, her eyes catching for a second on the pair of rings he'd put on her himself. Patrick had kept his word on them. He'd spoiled her silly, she'd loved them, still didn't know the prices, and they wouldn't kill a suspect when she got a little violent at work. 

And both rings looked just perfect next to that tiny little electronic plus sign. 

Teresa Lisbon simply couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe and she was going to kill Grace the second she finally made herself leave this bathroom stall. Not that Grace had been wrong. The nausea two mornings in a row and one round of vomiting before work today hadn't been the first signs that she'd caught Cho's killer case of the flu. It was a sign of something very different. This something she'd 'caught' from Patrick Jane. 

And now Teresa Lisbon-Jane had to figure out how to tell her husband that he was going to be a father... again. After everything he'd been through the first time around. But to hold a baby in her arms who had his eyes...to watch him cuddle a dark-haired child to sleep... To have everything she'd never thought she could ever have... so soon...

//Oh god, what am I going to do?\\\ 

It wasn't like they hadn't talked about having kids, but it was always in terms of 'someday.' Not, 'let's get started this year'. Was Patrick even ready? 

"Boss? You okay in there?"

//Grace...\\\ If she refused to come out of the women's room Patrick wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to come in and get her, even if it meant breaking down the door. He'd threatened to take her straight to the doctor's when he'd found her bent over the toilet before their alarm clock went off this morning. As he'd pointed out so clearly, she hadn't thrown up since the bachelorette party. "Yeah, Grace. I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute. Keep an eye on the guys for me, would you?" 

There was a soft, but somehow sharp little laugh on the other side of the door. "Sure, Boss. But I think you've only got about five minutes before Jane's uncontainable." Then there was a sharp tap on the wood of the outer bathroom door. "Maybe less. I'll see what I can buy ya, but hurry."

The outer door opened and Grace's muffled voice seemed to lead Jane's back to the bull pen. He was already worried. There was no way in hell that she could put off telling him even another hour. But how should she tell him? 

Stepping out of the stall, Teresa looked in the mirror and understood exactly why her husband was worried. She was deathly pale and sort of wild-eyed. Insecurity was not a look she wore well. The only cure was probably looking almost as panicked as she was out where he was waiting in the offices. //Patrick...\\\

Simple, simple was best. Sliding the home pregnancy test into her jacket pocket, Teresa took a shaky breath before managing a few deep, steady ones. "We can do this. We can get through anything together." 

Before her nerves could tackle her again, she walked out the door and right up to Patrick's couch. Or that was the plan before he stepped into her path just a few feet past the door to the hallway. "Sweetheart?" She let herself be wrapped in his arms, burying her face against his heart just for the beat of it under her ear. "You don't look so good. Let me take care of you, get you home." 

"No, I'm fine, Patrick." Taking a step back, she offered Patrick a hand, loving the natural twining of his fingers through hers. "I'm really okay. And I don't have the flu." Teresa led their joined hands to her stomach and fished the little stick out of her pocket to hold out to him. "I have something else and it's your fault." 

His eyes narrowed, flicked to her stomach and then locked to the test. Her heart didn't start beating again until his fingers wrapped around the test stick and a smile started to curve his lips. The eyes she adored were bright as he studied the tiny little screen. The smile only got wider as his fingers tucked the stick into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. It was a protective gesture. As was the sudden wrapping of his free arm around her back and the tucking of her body tight against his chest. "Oh, sweetheart..." His hand didn't leave her stomach until she could feel the heat of his body against every inch of hers. His breath was hot against her throat as he trembled just a little in her arms. "Tell me that you're just as excited and terrified as I am, Teresa. Tell me you want this as much as I do." 

//Thank god, yes. Want this, need you. Need to give you... everything.\\\ 

"Yes, Patrick." She guided his face up to show him her smile and to see his face. "I'm excited and terrified and I want this more than even I knew before I saw that plus sign. I want this... with you... more than anything." The look in his eyes set her every single nerve shaking under her skin. And then she couldn't breathe for a far, far more pleasant reason. Patrick was kissing her. It was her favorite reason. And it didn't matter at all that half the building was watching yet another major event in their lives unfold. Because nothing mattered more than sharing this moment with him. 

His lips pulled back after a long, sweet kiss that still wasn't long enough. She found he'd put a hand back on her stomach and covered it with her own, fighting to keep her eyes open. "We're pregnant, Teresa, I can't believe we're really pregnant." She'd never in her life seen him look as happy as he did when he dropped to his knees and buried his face against her shirt. Her fingers locked in his hair as he kissed and nuzzled at her stomach. It took an extra second or two for her to notice that Patrick was whispering just too low for her to distinguish the words. 

"Patrick?" 

He wrapped both arms tight around her hips before he lifted his head to meet her eyes, keeping her close enough to rest his cheek against her shirt buttons. "Yes, love." 

"Are you planning to stay down there all day talking to my stomach?" His smile made her fingers curl through his hair just to resist dropping to her knees to get him close enough for another kiss. 

"No. I'm planning to take you home, wrap you in our blankets, bring you tea and toast for your morning sickness and..." He paused to press a kiss just below her belly button with a wide smile. "Then spend all day talking to your stomach. I have a new baby to get to know." Patrick nuzzled against her, his arms tightening around her waist. 

"Right now, that new baby is smaller than the tip of your fingernail and doesn't have ears." Wayne was laughing from his spot at Grace's back, both hands clasped over hers at her waist.

It was unbearably cute that Patrick didn't so much as lift his head at all as he responded to Wayne's comment. Teresa could feel the scowl through her shirt. "Like you didn't spend all of Grace's pregnancy wrapped around and talking to her stomach."

"And I'm not denying it. But not usually at work." He paused, dropping a kiss on the line of Grace's neck. "And not in front of half the building." 

It was Teresa who then found herself laughing. Curling her fingers through Patrick's hair, she smiled down at him. "What can I say? I married a showman. He's not shy just 'cause there's an audience." 

"No, it's more like he seeks out an audience. Jane likes to prove things are real by sharing them with people." Cho shook his head and pulled himself up off his perch on the edge of a desk. "He makes sure everybody knows you're with him. Even before you were really with him. Now he's a proud husband and papa. The showing off is just going to get worse now." He rolled his eyes to look at the surrounding people pretending they weren't watching everything happening. "Just wait for the first sonogram pictures."

"And the first scraped knee, the first report card, the first date... all the things he'll be proud of or try to protect that kid from..." Grace smiled and leaned back into her husband's arms with a fond shaking of her head. "That audience he's so fond of is gonna get one hell of a show."

The body wrapped so tightly around her waist went suddenly tense and Teresa suddenly felt like she was the one with fake psychic powers. Because she could see exactly what was going on in that brilliant and stupid damn head of his. Patrick Jane was suddenly afraid. He was suddenly imagining the most horrible day of his life all over again. The day that he still blamed himself for, what his showmanship had taken from him. He would do anything to keep from losing everything he loved ever, ever again. 

And he was about to be stupid, monumentally. Patrick stood up and held her so tight she couldn't breathe. His hand spread wide and hot against her stomach. His eyes were wide and panicked, locking onto hers. "Sweetheart..."

"No, Patrick... that's not the way." Teresa covered his hand with her own and tried to talk sense into the fear on his face. "The safest place for us, for all of us," She pressed his hand tighter to her skin deliberately. "Is right here. With a badge and a gun and people around us who love us and have a truly frightening set of skills." 

His eyes said he didn't quite believe her. Not yet. "I would go with you. We could go anywhere. Start over, just the three of us. Somewhere safe." His eyes closed, forehead resting against hers as his hand cupped her jaw. "I can't lose you, can't lose this, not again." 

It was like he was trying to make her cry, like she could catch the beat of his heart in his voice, the needy touch of his hands. //Oh Patrick...\\\ Throwing both arms around his neck, Teresa pulled him even closer, trying to let him feel her heart through the touch of her hands. "You're not going to lose us, Patrick. Nothing is going to take us away from you. Not ever. Because I'm not ever letting anything take you from us." 

He was still trembling when she pulled him in for a soft and careful kiss. At least it was on her end. Jane was fighting himself for control. His arms pulled her tight against his chest and he kissed her like someone was about to steal her away. //Like I wouldn't fight like hell to stay at your side.\\\ Teresa held on tighter, let go of any thought of location or rules and just kissed him back with everything she had, giving him her all. Slowly the tension in his arms eased, even more slowly his lips eased and pulled back. There was still fear in his eyes. "Promise me, Teresa, promise me..."

There were so many things she simply couldn't promise. They both knew the world just didn't work like that. But what he needed was the truth. A simple truth that would still pull some of that blood racing terror from her favorite eyes. "I promise you, Patrick Jane, that nothing is this world or any other is going to come between the three of us without one hell of fight. I'm never letting either of you go and I know you'd move heaven and hell to keep us safe. We're going to be fine, love, all of us."

His forehead rested against hers as his eyes closed for the time of a few shaky breaths. Teresa tracked the fading tension in his body. She watched the fear on his face calm and slide away. When his eyes opened, they were filled with a lot of love and a little bit of growing hope. //That's my boy, that's my Patrick.\\\ Teresa melted up into his arms for a soft, sweet kiss before he pulled back to give her a weak but genuine smile. "You better go get your hugs and your purse. Because I've got about five minutes left in me before I'm carrying you out of here if I have to, taking you home, and cuddling you for days." 

That... that sounded... that sounded like heaven. That sounded like the best way to spend the next week if they could swing it. Teresa nodded before leaning up for one more kiss and pulling out of his arms. "I think I can manage it faster than that."

Cho was first, both because he was closest and because he was the most mature... emotionally speaking. "You're in charge 'til we get back. It should only be a day or two." Cho just shook his head and pulled Teresa in for a quick, tight hug. Setting her back on her feet, her second in command just smiled.

"I'll believe that when I see it. We'll take care of things here until the boredom drives you both back to the office." A warm hand rested for half a second on her stomach before pulling back. "You take care of your babies and let the tall one take care of you."

Grace stepped up next, wrapping her in a tight hug and hiding a suggestion in a whisper. "Makes the men feel better to baby you even if you don't need anything. I can't imagine that's going to be any lower in Jane."

"No, probably not." Teresa braced herself to be lifted off her feet when Rigsby reached for her. Then the grip of those arms was so light and careful that she caught herself laughing against his shoulder. "I'm pregnant, Wayne, not broken." Big arms tightened just a little bit as he lifted her up onto her toes but not off her feet.

"Yeah, I know that, but does Jane?" He braced her return to her heels with his hands on her arms. "'Cause I don't think he does. If you guys want 'em, I'm sure we've still got all the pregnancy books from the last time around." 

"Thanks, we'll let you know." The warmth in Patrick's voice had her turning to see it on his face. There stood her husband, her purse and jacket in his hands, hands that were twitching slightly because she and their baby were too far from his side. "Sweetheart?" The smile on Wayne's face said he understood completely. His hands also angled her back towards Jane in the process of letting her go with a jerk of his chin. "Let's go."

"Coming, Patrick." Teresa let the focus of his eyes on her stomach heat up her blood as she crossed the room to step back into his arms. The warmth climbed even higher as those hands wrapped her jacket around her and rested at her waist. Now it was her hands twitching just a little where they rested on his chest. "Now you can take me home." 

"That's the plan, Teresa." Patrick pulled her just a little closer to the pounding of his heart and brushed a kiss over her lips. "That's always the plan." Her husband shifted her under his arm so that he wouldn't have to let go at all until they got to the car. To be honest with herself, Teresa would have let him carry her outside if it meant keeping his arms around her. 

Not that she was telling him that. Half the building was already laughing at the consultant wrapped around her shoulders. 

000


End file.
